The American University volleyball team (20-9, 10-7) lost to the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (16-12, 9-8) in five sets during their Patriot League quarterfinal match on Nov. 19 in Bender Arena. This game marks the Eagles’ fifth straight loss to end the year, with both of their final two coming at the hands of Lehigh in five sets.
The No. 3-seeded American entered the match fiery after a loss to the Mountain Hawks on Senior Day, while No. 6 seed Lehigh came into Bender to play their first playoff volleyball match since the 2019 season. The winner of this match would advance to the Patriot League semifinals. American would play the No. 2 seed Bucknell Bison following a win, while Lehigh would play the No. 1 seed Colgate Raiders.
Before the match, American honored players on the team recognized with Patriot League Postseason Awards. Pre-game, the Patriot League honored freshman outside hitter Zedo Yilmaz as the Patriot League Rookie of the Year. Yilmaz led the league in kills and points. During the lineup announcements, three Eagles received a First-Team All-Patriot League distinction: senior setter Esma Sipahi, senior middle blocker Lilou Stegeman and Yilmaz.
The Eagles changed their normal lineup for this playoff match, starting senior libero Bridget Javitch at the position over freshman Bella Marrero, who started every in-conference game for American throughout the season. Javitch’s start saw all three seniors on the team start the match for their last home match in Bender Arena.
Both teams picked up this match where they left off on Nov. 16, trading points, runs and leads back and forth. Despite playing the set close, the Eagles never put a run together to take the lead, and their offense stalled near the end of the set. Lehigh took advantage with a 4-2 run to end the set 25-20.
The Eagles found their hitting prowess again in the next set, racking up 16 kills of their 25 points in the set and hitting .400. Freshman blocker Elise Sterling showed out in this set, hitting four of those kills and setting the tone for American’s offense in the rest of the game. The Eagles got out to a large lead, riding a 6-2 run to end the set 25-17.
Lehigh clamped down on defense in the next set, scoring off of 6 blocks and forcing American into tricky defensive situations. Most points in this set came off of blocks and errors before kills, but American’s offense kept them in the set, tying the score at 13 and trading points until a tie at 18. After that point, Lehigh capitalized on American’s errors, winning the set 25-21 and holding the advantage heading into the fourth set.
The Mountain Hawks and Eagles went back to what they knew best for the first half of the fourth set: trading points. Neither team held more than a 2-point lead until a dunk from Sipahi put American up 15-12. After that, back to trading until the end of the set. Stegeman kept the Eagles’ season alive for one more set, knocking the ball into Lehigh’s court with authority and winning the set 25-23.
Another set of trades opened up the fifth and final set of the match until Lehigh took an advantage, going up 9-6 and riding a 6-4 run to win the match. The Eagles ran out of energy in the end, letting one final Lehigh kill fly and dropping the fifth set 15-10.
This marked the Mountain Hawks’ first playoff win since 2014, where they defeated No. 3 seed Navy before losing to the Eagles in the championship match.
Despite the loss, Eagles head coach Ahen Kim showed optimism for the team’s future after the match, praising multiple players on the team.
“Zedo [Yilmaz] has been unreal for us. She won Rookie of the Year, her next goal needs to be Player of the Year,” Kim said.
Yilmaz had a comparatively quiet day to the rest of the team, putting up 4 kills on 14 attempts.
Sterling, the Patriot League’s end-of-season leader in hitting percentage, notched a team-leading 13 kills on 21 attempts, totaling another team-leading .619 hitting percentage on the day. Sipahi’s 47 assists led the team in that statistic, while Javitch led the team in digs with 16.
“Bri’s [Javitch] leadership and maturity this year was unreal. She’s been there before, and if we had won, she would have been the player of the game,” Kim said.
The trademark of the Eagles’ season, according to Kim, is that they learned from every loss they suffered, and didn’t take back-to-back losses until the five-game streak to end the season.
“We were good learners, now we have to learn how to be good in November again,” Kim said, “Other than the Bucknell loss, we didn’t lose in three. They don’t quit. That’s been true for us all year.”
This article was edited by Penelope Jennings, Delaney Hoke and Abigail Turner. Copy editing done by Luna Jinks, Emma Brown, Sabine Kanter-Huchting and Nicole Kariuki.
